U. professors receive awards from National Communication Association for community research
Kathryn Greene, a professor in the Department of Communication, and Khadijah Costley White, an associate professor in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, are award recipients from the National Communication Association (NCA), according to the organization's website.
Greene was awarded the Mark L. Knapp Scholarship Award for her career contributions to interpersonal communication research.
The main focus of her research for approximately 35 years has been on health communication, studying how individuals handle their own privacy. Her major contributions to the field include the health disclosure decision-making model and analyzing the effect of stigma when disclosing health-related information among minor communities, according to the NCA.
Greene told The Daily Targum that a lot of her research in graduate school had to do with people who felt stigmatized, citing the HIV/AIDS epidemic as an example. As she got further in her career, she said she wanted to better understand how the information that is shared changes in relation to various topics, such as mental health.
"Probably the last five or 10 years, I've spent more time studying what happens when you have to go to a health appointment and you ask your brother or a parent to go with you," Greene said. "How does that person's presence … make that appointment with the health care provider go more smoothly or get really bumpy?"
Greene said that winning the Mark L. Knapp Award was affirming to her, knowing that her and her team's research was making a real difference in patients' lives. She said that it is valuable to know that they can make a difference in how people confront their health conditions because many people develop some type of health problem in the course of their lives.
"Part of what's very rewarding as somebody who is a researcher studying an area that has a lot of application is seeing your students do well and continue to move forward," Greene said.
She cited a former student working at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where they train health care providers as an example.
The NCA also awarded White the Everett Hughes Holle Award for Social Justice and Community Engagement. White told the Targum that her research involves looking at the relationship of the media to culture, race and politics.
White is also the executive director of SOMA Justice, a nonprofit that she started in 2016 that uses media to teach the communities of South Orange and Maplewood about race and social justice.
White said SOMA Justice also advocates for local policy and puts on events for children and adults in these cities.
"For me, it's a really critical space for not just teaching about inequity but also actively trying to create a community that meets the needs of people that live in it," White said. "And so, the first thing we did was raise enough money to pay off all the lunch debt in our town."
White said that winning the Everett Hughes Holle Award has been validating in knowing that her work has been recognized and appreciated by other scholars, especially because it can be challenging to write articles while simultaneously including and serving the community.
"I think the award has helped make it clear that community-engaged scholarship is important in our field and our discipline and something that you should protect and support," White said.
She said it is important for up-and-coming scholars in her field to know that what they are doing is essential.
"I am so grateful that I've had the support of my colleagues and the larger University to invest in community-engaged research," she said. "It's been wonderful to be at a place that invests in this work."
